Ever thought about Scarifying your Lawn – Pt1 Machinery

Well the decision was made to scarify the lawn on 2 points.

1 – The lawn mower would not go over it

2 – The weeds were beginning to get the better.

So we selected a dry week in May, and hired a commercial scarifier from a UK network of tool hire companies.

This is where it started to go wrong. With a word of warning always check the tool hired is in usable condition.

The first one delivered was a Matika. Nothing wrong with the brand or the machine. It would have been OK for smaller lawns, and if it was not ready for the big scrapyard in the sky. The swinging blades were so worn out it could never do its job.

moss1a       The blades are normally reversible, so you get double the life out of a blade assembly. A closeup shot shows the extent of the wear. This blade would have originally had square corners, to cut into the moss and thatch, and then hook it out.

moss1bTotally worn out on both corners of the blade.

A phone call requesting a new scarifier was made. This time they sent me one that was like what was in the pictures of the hire company’s website. It was a Camon LS42 now this is the normal one that the landscapers use.

I had to run this hard to catch up for lost time. But them only after 3 hours of use, this happened, and it was midday on a Saturday (hire company shut midday on Sat).

moss2aThe main drive belt had snapped ???? I had to wait until Monday and rush out and buy one from a local toolshop. The belt that fitted was an SPA800, it should have been cogged, that is teeth on one side to make it more flexible. But the tool shop did not have one, so I had to make do.

moss2bAlso as a comparison here is a shot of the blade of the Camon LS42

moss2c moss2dThis ends the Pt1 covering the machinery, Pt2 goes onto show the lawns.